The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1887-01-04
a Picture of Gladstone.


closes an ample front Of linen. expand-
ING within a lew-cut, rather old fash
loned style Of vest. Brown trowsers
end IN snuff colored hose and neat
low shoes. He takes his seat in the
middle Of the Treasury bench with
apparent self unconciousness and pro
ceeds to fold his arms. cross his legs
and think, with, apparently, no more
sense OF attitude or audience than a
boy alone IN schoolroom. His con
temptation has the symptoms Of dis
turbed sleep, for he is FESTIVE and
troubled His mouth Is drawn down
and IN, until the lips seem thin,
irregular. uncertain line The face is
broad. noble all but majestic in its
firm lines Of vigorous old age. The
scanty fringe of scattered gray around
chin and cheeks, meets the sparse sil
yer locks upon his bald great head.
It is a great head physically-massive.
esquare. broad. angled sharply at the
cheek bones and ears-a head which
would be chosen by a painter for a
staresman's model. but not for that of
an actor. or artisan, or merchant.
It Is such head as a great thinker
would have In any domain Of pure
study 1t recalls no other great head
unless. around the mouth. Daniel Web
ster's: across the eyebrows, Beeth-
ovens l have seen him sit in mere
contemplation for a half hour at
time, moving no muscle but the ends
81 the fingers of both hands, and these
vmove necessarily. When the think
ing 1T Is closed, and an action resolved
upon. he proceeds to its efiectuation
with alertness He is quick in all his
movements 4 letter is handed him.
He tears the cover open rudely, adj
justs his glasses, squares the manu-
script. sits upright with his legs
crossed. and wags one foot in steady
rythm while he reads quickly down
the page. turns to the next and. after
following the lines to the end. reflects
moment, lays the sheet across his
lap. reflects again, twirls his fingers.
reads the whole letter to the end once
more. and then carefully folding it
puts * on the table before him. With
the eagerness of a boy. he takes fold
ing portfolio off the table. adjusts 1t
upon his knees, dips a long goose
quill into the ink at the edge Of the
table. and writes with rapidity eight
or ten lines, then pauses, rejecting
over some artful phrase to entice, to
reproach, TO conceal a thought, to tease
|. or to enrap. The feather end of the
: GULL Is meanwhile. sometimes between
his lips and sometimes between his
teeth. When the shaping of some
specific thought is thus labored on to
completion the pen runs over the pa
per again speedily, and the finish is
made with q little gesture of self-sat-
lsfacuon. as if, after all. the task We're
q tritie wearisOme but the effort not
without reward
have watched him carefully
through many speeches, some obvi-
ogsly prepared in part, some born
wholly of the moment Of their deliv-
erv. He stands at ease. resting one
side a- ailst tine edge Of the table.
which Is high enough to afford some
sense of repose. The nervousness of
/. his fingers causes him to clutch some
y hing and toy with it-papers, books.
pens. He never strikes attitudes.
never mouths OF makes grimaces or
smirks. OF by paltry devices Of the
throat. or eyes or hands distracts his
hearers from his poverty Of matter by
his levity. He is simple, natural.
clear-voiced. but the voice is not as
full and far-carrying as it used to be.
He rarely geshcuIates except with
brief waves Of the hands. One might
almost describe his physical charac,
teristics when speaking at the table as
monotonous, There is a tempered
and regulated variety in it neverthe-
less. There are imprisoned passages
IN all his momentous speeches which
must have carried him away from him
self; and during this debate. albeit
wariness and tact have been control
ing ideas on his side of the combat. |
rather than valor and defiance. hehas |
sometimes permitted himself to be
come Yehement.-N. ]. Sun.